Obviously, in certain circumstances only traditional opioids will do, but for alternative pain management, people speak highly of cannabis and kratom. For thos

Obviously, in certain circumstances only traditional opioids will do, but for alternative pain management, people speak highly of cannabis and kratom. For those who haven’t yet heard of it, kratom (variously pronounced “KRAY-tum”, “KRAT-um”, and “kra-TOME”) is a southeast Asian tree in the coffee family, whose leaves are chewed or ground into powder and swallowed in capsules or brewed into tea; it acts as an atypical opioid agonist, which appears to be less addictive and significantly less dangerous than traditional opioids, while offering comparable pain relief. The DEA and FDA have been making moves toward banning it for a few years now, lacking both sufficient evidence that it’s dangerous, and sufficient research to confirm the considerable anecdotal evidence that it’s safe and useful as a mild natural remedy for pain, anxiety and depression, and addiction—particularly opioid withdrawal. So I hope cannabis legalisation continues to proceed and that kratom achieves secure legal status so that it can be used directly, as well as studied and used to produce derivatives, for safer and less addictive pain management. Thousands of people claim that it has saved their lives from opioid addiction and pain. Personally, I’ve found it useful for my minor chronic pain, but it truly gave me my life back from alcoholism by greatly reducing my desire to drink. I fear that if it’s banned, it will result in needless deaths and further worsen the opioid crisis.